Anne Rindell, PhD. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to discuss challenges and lessons learnt when conducting a classic grounded theory study in a marketing context. The paper focuses on two specific challenges that were met during a specific research process. The first challenge related to positioning the study, namely, specifying “what the study is a study of”. The second challenge concerned the choice between formal or substantive theory. Both challenges were accentuated as the emerged core category concerned a phenomenon that has caught less attention in marketing, that is, the temporal dimension in corporate images. By the temporal dimension in corporate images we mean that corporate images often have roots in earlier times through consumer memories. In other words, consumers are not tabula rasa, that is, blank sheets of paper on which communication messages can be printed. Rather, consumers have a pre-understanding of the company that works as an interpretation framework for company actions in the present. The lessons learnt from this research process can be summarized as “stay faithful to the data”, “write memos on issues you reflect upon although they might be in another substantial field” as they might become useful later, and, “look into thinking in other disciplines” as disciplines do not develop equally. Introduction Classic grounded theory is not a mainstream methodology in marketing, especially not in branding and image research. This is surprising, as the original perspective marketing adopted was that of the consumer, and therefore classic grounded theory studies could provide important new insights into consumers, given that the aim is to develop fresh insights and new theories (Goulding, 1998). As Payne et al. state, although consumer understanding expresses the initial perspective marketing adopted, the mainstream marketing literature is largely organization-focused in its nature (Payne, Storbacka, Frow, & Knox, 2009). However, especially within marketing communications and branding, leading scholars now urge for genuine consumer understanding in a branding context (Schultz, 2006). This may enhance the interest for classic grounded theory among branding and marketing communication scholars as this area might benefit from the development of explanatory theory. Nevertheless, from my own experience, there are only a few academic articles that have a methodological approach and can provide explicit guidance for novel researchers in using classic grounded theory in a marketing context (see e.g. Goulding, 1998). Practical advice from experienced CGT scholars in marketing can also be hard to find in one’s home country. Moreover, differences in methodological approaches concerning GT and especially misconceptions among scholars (Goulding, 1998) made the present research process challenging. However, my supervisor’s full support was valuable here. In sum, this paper examines a research process with a classic grounded theory approach in a branding context. The purpose of this paper is to discuss especially two challenges met and lessons learnt during the research process. The first issue concerns the challenge of positioning the study within an area in marketing and the second challenge concerns the choice between formal or substantive theory. In the paper, some reflections are also made in relation to researcher experiences in doing the research. The paper is organized as follows: first, a short overview of the conducted study is provided in order to give a context for the discussion. Then, the first challenge, positioning the study within marketing research, will be discussed together with some lessons learnt from the journey. Then, the second challenge, to choose between generating formal or substantive theory, is discussed. Finally, concluding reflections, implications and contributions of the paper...
